Got Android envy? The Nexus phones are still the best way to experiment.

If you're an iPhone user who wants to find out what that whole Android thing is about, there's really no better way to get your feet wet than to buy a Nexus phone. The hardware is never perfect, but Google and its partners will typically sell you a fair-to-good smartphone off-contract for about half the price you'd normally pay for one. It's a fine value proposition if you've already used your carrier subsidy to buy a shiny new iPhone 5S.

As someone who has spent a lot of time jumping between an iPhone 4S and Nexus 4 (and now, an iPhone 5S and Nexus 5) as a daily driver, I have a few tips to pass on to people who are interested in Android but aren't quite ready to make a permanent move, or for the people who want to stay familiar with both operating systems because their jobs demand it, or for the true tech omnivores who just like to use a little bit of everything.

Making the jump

It's possible to use the Nexus phones without cellular connectivity, just using them around the house on Wi-Fi or tethering them to your iPhone when you're out and about. To simplify things and cut down on the number of items to carry around, though, I usually just pop my SIM card out of my iPhone and into the Nexus. If you've never done this before, it's not a difficult process. You'll need some equipment depending on what kind of iPhone you're using.

First, if you're coming from an iPhone 5, 5C, or 5S, your phone uses a tiny nano-SIM card. The Nexus 5 (and older iPhones) use slightly larger micro-SIM cards—it's not difficult to find small trays that serve as nano-to-micro SIM adapters, so hit up Amazon if you need one. Second, you'll need tools to force the SIM trays on both phones to pop out. The Nexus 5 comes with its own tool (and don't lose it, since the pinhole on the Nexus phones tend to be abnormally small). The larger pinhole in the iPhones can be opened up with the Nexus 5's tray opener too, but since the pinhole is larger, a bent paper clip or another similar implement will also get the job done.

Your SIM card is what enables your phone to connect to and use your carrier's network.

Turn both phones off, pop the trays out, move the SIM from the iPhone to the Nexus, and you should be done. I've never had problems shuffling my AT&T SIM between phones, and Sprint and T-Mobile SIMs ought to work as well. Verizon customers remain unsupported, however.

Finally, if you're popping your SIM out of your iPhone and into the Nexus, consider signing out of iMessage. This will make life easier for your iPhone-toting friends who send you iMessages using your phone number—I've had friends make the jump to Android without signing out, and it can result in a whole bunch of undeliverable messages. When you sign out, attempted iMessages sent to your phone number will failover to SMS more reliably.

First blush

Enlarge/ In many ways, stock Android as shipped by Google isn't so different from iOS.

Andrew Cunningham

Aside from the price, one reason to dabble with Nexus phones rather than any of the other OEM offerings is that the "stock" version of Android presented by Google is more iOS-like than the various skins available from third parties. I don't mean that to say that Google is copying iOS wholesale, but Google takes pains to make the first-time setup process straightforward. You aren't bombarded with dozens of pop-ups or account sign-up messages as soon as you boot the phone (Samsung is particularly bad about this). The UI and the home screens are both free of cruft, and you're free to use the phone as-is or download the apps you need from the Google Play store.

The basics of dragging icons around your screen and opening apps are the same in Android as they are in iOS. Android is marginally more flexible since you can choose to hide icons without uninstalling the apps and arrange them in any pattern you'd like rather than conforming to iOS' strict rows and columns. However, the basic user interactions—swipe down for notifications, long press and then drag to move things around, hit the Home button to go back to the main home screen—are essentially the same.

The biggest functional difference is probably Google Now, which in KitKat can be invoked either by holding the Home button and swiping up or just swiping to the left of your main home screen. Think of it as an analogue to Siri and the Today View features from iOS 7 but with fewer service hiccups and access to the ocean of data at Google's metaphorical fingertips.

Overall, though, iOS and Android have been "borrowing" ideas from each other for so long at this point that it's pretty easy to jump between them without getting too disoriented. Going from either Android or iOS to something like Windows Phone or BlackBerry 10 is much more jarring.

What you leave behind

Enlarge/ It doesn't matter how many times you search for Tweetbot on Google Play. You'll never find it.

Andrew Cunningham

Once you familiarize yourself with Android, you'll find that many of the apps and services you use are available on both platforms. This isn't like switching to Windows Phone 8 or BlackBerry 10, two platforms that continue to suffer from a dearth of major apps. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Dropbox, Spotify, Netflix, Hulu, Kindle—almost all of the big names are here, and they supply reasonably responsive and good-looking applications on Android phones (though Android tablet apps are still in some ways playing catch-up).

You're still going to run into pain points, though, and the more invested you are in Apple's stores and services, the more difficult you'll find it to switch. While it's totally possible to move MP3 and AAC files from your computer to your Android phone, iTunes isn't going to help you do it. Any media or apps you've purchased through the iTunes store will be totally inaccessible unless you move things over manually. When it comes to media (and especially when you're outside the US), the Google Play store's selection remains inferior to iTunes'. Apple gives Android users no easy way to access any iCloud data, including e-mail, calendars, notes, and other basics.

The Google Play app store, for all its virtues, continues to have a couple of notable deficiencies compared to the iOS App Store. One is games—there are Android versions of touch game staples like Angry Birds and Where's My Water, and more obscure titles like 10000000, Eufloria HD, and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery have made the jump as well, but indie games especially still tend to come to iOS first. Android suffers from a dearth of good third-party Twitter, mail, and calendar clients, relying more heavily on the built-in "official" apps to provide this kind of functionality. Photo, music, and video editing apps in the vein of Apple's now-free iLife apps are also scarce-to-nonexistent on Android.

Power users especially stand to gain a lot from using Android. You can replace keyboards and launchers to get the phone just the way you want it. Apps can share data more freely between one another. Widgets make it simpler to get quick information without diving all the way into specific applications. When it comes to useful, well-designed third-party apps, though, iOS retains its edge.

Keeping it all in sync

Enlarge/ If you want to sync data between iOS and Android, Apple isn't going to help you out.

Andrew Cunningham

Assuming that you intend to move back to iOS, you'll want to make some effort to keep your information synced up between the two ecosystems—this goes for bare necessities like e-mail, calendars, and contacts as well as your various photos and other media files.

There's no way of getting around it: the best way to keep basic things in sync between Android and iOS devices is to store the data in Google's cloud instead of Apple's. I stopped keeping calendar and contact information in iCloud for precisely this reason. I can access things in Google's cloud from both operating systems (and from a number of others as well), whereas things in Apple's cloud tend to stay pretty exclusively in Apple's cloud. Google also makes and maintains a suite of generally decent iOS apps (including Chrome, Maps, and Drive) that help reduce the pain of jumping between the two ecosystems. You'll find no officially sanctioned Apple apps in Google Play.

The other viable option is to use third-party services and ecosystems that both operating systems can connect to. Dropbox is reasonably competent at shuffling photos and other files between iOS, Android, and whatever desktop operating system you prefer. I tend to lean on Amazon for e-books, Spotify and Amazon for music, and Netflix and Hulu for most video rather than buying things from Google's or Apple's stores. The Gmail app in Android is much better-maintained than the standard mail client (which is improved in KitKat, but it's rarely updated and is still missing basic features like conversation view), but both iOS and Android can connect to pretty much any IMAP or Exchange mail service you prefer. There's no denying that living exclusively in Google- or Apple-land is more seamless and convenient if you only use Google or Apple devices, but by staking out neutral ground between the two, it becomes easier to hop back and forth.

Of course, these aren't the only concerns you'll need to bear in mind if you want to switch between iOS and Android. You might have years of chargers, cables, and accessories that only work with iPhones that are totally incompatible with your Android phone (my car's USB port doesn't like to work with Android phones, which is a pretty expensive accessory to have to work around). Maybe you can't live without Touch ID. Maybe the inconvenience of pulling your data out of iCloud or of giving up iMessage might be too great for you to even consider. But with some effort, it's not too difficult to hop between ecosystems for most things. The pre-work you do will enable you to easily mix and match computers, tablets, and all manner of gadgets in the future.

197 Reader Comments

I'm not particularly a fan of the licenses being tied to the app stores, as I don't see why I can run AwesomeApp on any of a dozen iDevices, but have to purchase it again to use it on an Android device. I see how it benefits the app store companies via lock in, but hopefully there is a path forward away from this annoying lock in, especially as these stores are now spreading to desktop operating systems. Hopefully, some of the bigger app devs see fit to provide coupon codes to existing customers or something similar and set a standard that others begin to follow.

It's the biggest thing holding back a switch at this point - I have no interest in repurchasing apps and games on another platform, and I shouldn't have to, since the apps will happily install over and over on devices with the same OS.

While I'm no Apple fanboy, the ecosystem that iOS and Apple provides is really hard to break away from. I've been using Apple products my whole life, but I'm currently eyeing the Moto X as my next phone (to replace my aging 4S). It's a very attractive phone: not too big, competitive specs, nice to hold, etc. However, I'm so ingrained in the iCloud services that switching would be a major hassle. Say what you want about Apple, but they've created a set of products that work so well together that they retain their user base.

Having activated a Nexus 5 last week, one thing worth mentioning is that if you're using a GMail (or generalised Google account) and you have two-factor authentication set up on your existing phone, DO NOT put your new SIM in the new Nexus until you've got the authentication code. The N5 won't accept texts until the phone is already set up.

Also, having used Touchwiz on a couple of different Galaxy devices since 2009, stock Android is somewhat intimidating. The bundled software is completely different, and the device generally works differently from anything skinned differently.

This will probably be where Apple screws up, long term. The desire to lock everything to Apple, with very poor connectivity to anything else. This, tbh, is why I am switching off Apple. The lockins, the "Apple knows best" attitude, etc.

Example: eBooks. Buy an Apple eBook, you can only access it on an Apple device. Buy an Amazon eBook, and you can read it on just about anything. And since I intend on building an eBook library, I do NOT want to be tied to Apple hardware for the life of that library. (Apple wants me to be tied, but I don't...)

Having activated a Nexus 5 last week, one thing worth mentioning is that if you're using a GMail (or generalised Google account) and you have two-factor authentication set up on your existing phone, DO NOT put your new SIM in the new Nexus until you've got the authentication code. The N5 won't accept texts until the phone is already set up.

Have you been listening in on my private conversations? I was just today commenting with a friend that I'm getting the Nexus 5, and he said it would be hard for him to leave Apple because he uses their cloud services for everything from contacts to file storage.

I do use Google's services a lot, but for certain things I prefer not to go with Google, Microsoft or Apple exactly because I fear they might lock you out if you don't use their OS.

I'm not particularly a fan of the licenses being tied to the app stores, as I don't see why I can run AwesomeApp on any of a dozen iDevices, but have to purchase it again to use it on an Android device.

Hm... this is a tricky one, I think. While the apps may be called the same, they're probably very different beasts underneath the hood. PC, Mac, Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Blackberry have different APIs that must be programmed for.

In a perfect world, apps would be written so that porting is trivial and app cost would reflect the cost of developing for every platform and you'd be able to use it on whichever one you choose. Not being a programmer, I don't know how feasible this would be, but Humble Bundle has had a number of games on sale that are accessible both on Android and Windows (in the latter case, both through Steam and as standalone downloads).

I'm also not sure how you could go about checking whether some user has paid for the app on another platform when the app store/google play/marketplace is typically the only source for apps.

Unfortunately the article really didn't address the big things to figure out which are iMessage and Facetime.

iMessage is a pain in the butt to get your old phone removed from the Apple notification system and if you don't do that you're apple friends messages will never reach you as they will be sent at iMessages instead of SMS. Additionally, there really isn't great replacements that work super seamlessly as Facetime and iMessage. Yes Skype works but the login etc process is always a pain for computer illiterate users wherease Facetime is built in and is always working/running (skype has to be restarted if you reboot the device).

Unfortunately the article really didn't address the big things to figure out which are iMessage and Facetime.

iMessage is a pain in the butt to get your old phone removed from the Apple notification system and if you don't do that you're apple friends messages will never reach you as they will be sent at iMessages instead of SMS. Additionally, there really isn't great replacements that work super seamlessly as Facetime and iMessage. Yes Skype works but the login etc process is always a pain for computer illiterate users wherease Facetime is built in and is always working/running (skype has to be restarted if you reboot the device).

Would Google Hangouts not be a functional replacement? I'm not very familiar with either iMessage or Facetime, but it seems it would fit the bill.

Unfortunately the article really didn't address the big things to figure out which are iMessage and Facetime.

iMessage is a pain in the butt to get your old phone removed from the Apple notification system and if you don't do that you're apple friends messages will never reach you as they will be sent at iMessages instead of SMS. Additionally, there really isn't great replacements that work super seamlessly as Facetime and iMessage. Yes Skype works but the login etc process is always a pain for computer illiterate users wherease Facetime is built in and is always working/running (skype has to be restarted if you reboot the device).

Would Google Hangouts not be a functional replacement? I'm not very familiar with either iMessage or Facetime, but it seems it would fit the bill.

Yes and no. Hangouts relies on your apple friends installing Hangouts on their iOS devices (and Android devices relies on users installing the app as well). This is the big difference, android doesn't come with all these things installed by default so technically challenged folks won't ever use these replacements.

All my iPhone friends using WhatsApp anyway so I can't see it being much of an issue.

Having activated a Nexus 5 last week, one thing worth mentioning is that if you're using a GMail (or generalised Google account) and you have two-factor authentication set up on your existing phone, DO NOT put your new SIM in the new Nexus until you've got the authentication code. The N5 won't accept texts until the phone is already set up.

Very valid point! As someone who installs different roms quite frequently (dualbooting on my SGSIII and regularly testing new roms to find a new daily driver) probably the simplest thing to do is skip the account entering section of setup entirely until you're "in" properly, and then add it - usually under Menu, Settings, Accounts on almost all android phones

Unfortunately the article really didn't address the big things to figure out which are iMessage and Facetime.

iMessage is a pain in the butt to get your old phone removed from the Apple notification system and if you don't do that you're apple friends messages will never reach you as they will be sent at iMessages instead of SMS. Additionally, there really isn't great replacements that work super seamlessly as Facetime and iMessage. Yes Skype works but the login etc process is always a pain for computer illiterate users wherease Facetime is built in and is always working/running (skype has to be restarted if you reboot the device).

Would Google Hangouts not be a functional replacement? I'm not very familiar with either iMessage or Facetime, but it seems it would fit the bill.

Yes and no. Hangouts relies on your apple friends installing Hangouts on their iOS devices (and Android devices relies on users installing the app as well). This is the big difference, android doesn't come with all these things installed by default so technically challenged folks won't ever use these replacements.

Well, Hangouts (previously Google Talk) comes standard on Android devices and handled video, audio, and text chats. It started off in the desktop browser version of Gmail but has been on every Android phone I've had for the past few years at least.

I think the issue I've run into isn't so much that different companies push their own messaging/chat platform. I think it's good to have options and I like that you can use the platform whose tools you prefer.

It just gets annoying with chat because Apple never made iMessage available on any other platform so while my friends and family typically use some mix of iOS and Android devices (if they use smartphones and tablets at all), those on iOS have the option of installing Hangouts or any of the third-party clients like vTok for video calls and chat with Android or the Gmail website. Those of us who primarily use Android can't install anything that works with iMessage or iChat so we have to use SMS for people who don't have or don't want to install Talk/Hangouts.

The whole thing is messy. It would have been nice in some fantasy world for them to settle on a common protocol and just compete through trying to make the better client but that will never happen.

While I'm no Apple fanboy, the ecosystem that iOS and Apple provides is really hard to break away from. I've been using Apple products my whole life, but I'm currently eyeing the Moto X as my next phone (to replace my aging 4S). It's a very attractive phone: not too big, competitive specs, nice to hold, etc. However, I'm so ingrained in the iCloud services that switching would be a major hassle. Say what you want about Apple, but they've created a set of products that work so well together that they retain their user base.

This is a great point. I was an Android user from early on since Sprint did not have the iPhone when I was looking to replace my Palm Pre. That said, I decided to check out an iPhone earlier this year, but I was so tied to Google's ecosystem, that it was very difficult to get completely acclimated to iOS. It's a shame since iOS and Apple's ecosystem and hardware *is* nice, but making the switch was not worth it for me. I think this might be the biggest hurdle for both Apple and Google in terms of trying to convert users.

While I'm no Apple fanboy, the ecosystem that iOS and Apple provides is really hard to break away from. I've been using Apple products my whole life, but I'm currently eyeing the Moto X as my next phone (to replace my aging 4S). It's a very attractive phone: not too big, competitive specs, nice to hold, etc. However, I'm so ingrained in the iCloud services that switching would be a major hassle. Say what you want about Apple, but they've created a set of products that work so well together that they retain their user base.

This is exactly why I don't use Apple products. No matter how well their products work together, I don't want to be locked in to one company's products, and particularly not a company that is well known for ignoring smaller niches that they don't think are profitable enough to bother supporting. Android at least provides a common software ecosystem that allows manufacturers who want to target a specific niche to give it a try, even if they may not sell as many as Samsung. With Apple, if you want to use their ecosystem, you have to use their devices, and if you want a different feature set, too bad.

While I'm no Apple fanboy, the ecosystem that iOS and Apple provides is really hard to break away from. I've been using Apple products my whole life, but I'm currently eyeing the Moto X as my next phone (to replace my aging 4S). It's a very attractive phone: not too big, competitive specs, nice to hold, etc. However, I'm so ingrained in the iCloud services that switching would be a major hassle. Say what you want about Apple, but they've created a set of products that work so well together that they retain their user base.

The lock-in only gets worse every year. It's part of the reason why I moved to Android. The only money I'll lose if I go back to iOS will be on the apps I purchased. All my other content is easily portable.

My only real problem on Android is friends complaining that I'm not on iMessage and my parents and brother complaining that I don't have facetime. They are actually upset and I have a hard time trying to explain how its Apple's fault for intentionally not making things compatible.

You might have years of chargers, cables, and accessories that only work with iPhones that are totally incompatible with your Android phone

This shouldn't be an issue for anyone who has not been actively tuning the rest of the world out.

The Android device will come with a charger and USB cable. If you need another cable, you can salvage from a multitude of devices that use the same connector; if you are really in a bind, ask a friend or relative who uses Android and they will probably have more than one to spare. You probably have more cables than you realized. For example, my daughter received a number of PC-connected toys for her birthday, and each of these came with a USB cable that also works with my SGS3. Cables should never be a problem.

Chargers may be an issue, if you need more than one; luckily, the USB ports in your workstation or home PC will happily charge your phone for you. Again, your Android-using friends, relatives, or co-workers probably have at least one spare as well.

Most accessories that connect to iPhone will also connect to your Android device, ableit through the audio jack rather than as a dock. You lose out on being able to control the device with the accessory, but at least it works. Male to male audio cables are cheap and easy to find.

My that's short.... How about helping Apple users to some of the good stuff: widgets, best in class apps for popular stuff, and help with integrating Android into Apple's proprietary world (Airplay clients, iCloud, iTunes integration...)

I've never had problems shuffling my AT&T SIM between phones, and Sprint and T-Mobile SIMs ought to work as well. Verizon customers remain unsupported, however.

Andrew, could you clarify this statement? Something to do specifically with Verizon SIM cards moving between two different operating systems or just phones?

I've just recently experienced swapping out carrier SIM cards on the same Verizon iPhone 5. Works perfectly, just requiring a power cycle. In Europe for a month using T-Mobiles excellent overseas plan. I'm not enjoying the number of texts they send me though.

Erm .. the iPhone comes with a tool to pop the SIM tray out as well. You don't need to resort to a paperclip or anything else.

I was lead to believe from an Apple genius that those cool Liquid Metal SIM tools were only supplied with AT&T phones, and perhaps not any tool with any handset since the 4S.

This would line up with my experience. I got a tool with my AT&T iPhone 4, but did not receive one with my AT&T iPhone 5. It's anecdotal, obviously, but I didn't even see any place that would even store the tool in my packaging, so I am assuming that they are not included anymore.

While it's totally possible to move MP3 and AAC files from your computer to your Android phone, iTunes isn't going to help you do it. Any media or apps you've purchased through the iTunes store will be totally inaccessible.

I've never had problems shuffling my AT&T SIM between phones, and Sprint and T-Mobile SIMs ought to work as well. Verizon customers remain unsupported, however.

Andrew, could you clarify this statement? Something to do specifically with Verizon SIM cards moving between two different operating systems or just phones?

I've just recently experienced swapping out carrier SIM cards on the same Verizon iPhone 5. Works perfectly, just requiring a power cycle. In Europe for a month using T-Mobiles excellent overseas plan. I'm not enjoying the number of texts they send me though.

While it's totally possible to move MP3 and AAC files from your computer to your Android phone, iTunes isn't going to help you do it. Any media or apps you've purchased through the iTunes store will be totally inaccessible.

I'm not particularly a fan of the licenses being tied to the app stores, as I don't see why I can run AwesomeApp on any of a dozen iDevices, but have to purchase it again to use it on an Android device. I see how it benefits the app store companies via lock in, but hopefully there is a path forward away from this annoying lock in, especially as these stores are now spreading to desktop operating systems. Hopefully, some of the bigger app devs see fit to provide coupon codes to existing customers or something similar and set a standard that others begin to follow.

It's the biggest thing holding back a switch at this point - I have no interest in repurchasing apps and games on another platform, and I shouldn't have to, since the apps will happily install over and over on devices with the same OS.

While some companies allow you to migrate your license between stores, (Pleco I think allow this for the in-app purchases), it isn't a lock in to have to re-purchase. This is pretty similar to buying an OSX app, and then going to your Windows box and expecting the same license code to work there. Very few companies allow this, and expect you to buy the software again (I am not saying it is great!)

I have switched twice to three different platforms now - from an iPod touch to an Android phone and now to Windows Phone. At no point did I expect to be able to re-use licenses for things I had purchased as they are different platforms. Evaluate which apps you actually use, and work from there. When/if you switch back the rest will still be there waiting to be re-installed.

I don't consider it lock in though, any more than I am locked into my Windows/RT, Linux or OSX desktops because I have purchased software for all four (and in some cases re-purchased for multiple platforms). Phones are no different.

I must mention Steam though - that works well on the desktop world but is a great exception to the rule of one license per platform.

Andrew, great article, thanks! Perhaps advice on getting the SIM out of a phone is a bit advanced though ;-) Any chance you can do a more in-depth look at data migration & sync between multiple devices & platforms?

While it's totally possible to move MP3 and AAC files from your computer to your Android phone, iTunes isn't going to help you do it. Any media or apps you've purchased through the iTunes store will be totally inaccessible.

I somehow missed this part of the article, but I can confirm that GMM will pull directly from your iTunes folder and make it available to you from your Android device. Takes a while, and you may need to pay Apple to unlock content purchased long ago, but it works really will without any real need to babysit the transfer.